Cause of Binge Eating Disorder

The cause of binge eating disorder vary but in most cases, the Characteristics of Binge Eating Disorder comes from the desire to be thin and mental conflict about being overweight. While this might sound like a contraction since binge eating means you literally stuff yourself with food, it isn't. There are many people that want to lose weight or even that are thin, who suffer from this disorder. However, in most cases, chronically obese people suffer from this disease.

One example is a person who grew up heavy but took matters into their own hands and dieted when they became an adult. However, their diets frequently fail. Instead of getting thinner, the person gains more weight. In public, they eat only small portions of food, stay with low calorie selections and look as if he or she is the perfect dieter. However, in private, life of a binge eater is far different. The binge eater might have a secret stash of goodies hidden in the bedroom. One binge eater hid food in the lampshade of an overhead light.

Instead of eating to survive, the binge eater survives to eat. She or he consumes more in a few minutes than most people eat at a normal meal. Often eating rapidly, they might down a hamburger, several candy bars, chips and cake in one short retreat to a private area, such as a bedroom. Unlike most people when they eat, it only takes a minute or two to do this and then they return to a public area with others unaware of their binge eating.

While almost everyone has overeaten from time to time, binge eaters do it on a consistent basis. The binge eater often combines eating with other activities such as watching television, reading a book or even cleaning house. Instead of stopping when he feels full, a binge eater continues to eat even though it makes him uncomfortable. It's as though there's an emptiness she tries to fill with the food. In many cases, the binge eater doesn't enjoy the taste of the food.

The causes of binge eating and binge eating disorder treatment vary by the individual. Some people inherit a genetic tendency to binge eating. In these cases, the binge eater has a brain chemistry that's different from most people. The binge eater is more susceptible to overeating due to the lack of certain chemicals that cause a person to feel full.

Sometimes the binge eater fills an emotional void in his life with the binge eating. They may be stuffing down unacceptable behavior with food. Of course, to the binge eater, getting angry, sad or upset, all normal emotions, may be what he considers unacceptable. The food is sometimes the coping mechanism for these emotions.

Lack of self worth can be one of the cause of binge eating disorder as the binge eaters can be feeding their ego and use food to soothe a feeling. By eating the binge eater feels she's giving herself a gift to feel better. In other instances, the binge eater sees the food as the enemy to sabotage plans to lose weight. The actual weight loss may panic the binge eater for a number of reasons. Sometimes the binge eater doesn't feel worthy of looking attractive. Other times the binge eater either feels there is a danger in being too attractive and uses the overweight to make her unattractive to the opposite sex.

Unlike many obese people, the binge eater feels guilty about being overweight. In the beginning, the cause of binge eating disorder can go back to that the binge eater may not have been obese but parents or friends "helped" the person to feel that way by constantly thrusting the reminder of that "thin was attractive." The binge eater hid their hunger and ate in private. This then developed into their "dirty little secret" later on in life. The secrecy and shame that came with it, only increased the binge eating.

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